Male Protagonists

[AnarchistAbe]

Great article. The sad thing is that the whole "manly vs macho" business is not confined to games either. The "macho" men of the real world might not be spending their time running around wielding swords, but that attitude of "everyone different from this is a pussy/gay/woman/etc" is something that is unfortunately all-too common amongst people that I have met. Those people, like their gaming equivalents, are always uninteresting and obnoxious to deal with, especially for someone like me who has a strong dislike for "set standards" and those who live by them.

OMG!!! I finally understand it, and it all goes back to my original point!!! The Macho-Man main characters remind people of the "Macho-Man" Real people they know...and hate. So, due to transitive properties, they hate these traits in the main characters!!!! Thanks Yureina, this is a major psychological breakthrough ;-)

 

[Eldarion]

Why is the Macho-Man so hated in the gaming community? Am I the only one who likes playing an 80s Action Hero as my video game persona? I love the Rambo/John McClain macho badass banter, but it seems that it is constantly ripped apart in the games media.

Have all gamers been so emotionally ripped apart by "bros" and "football jock douches" that they can't enjoy the macho-man for fear of being thrown in a trashcan and given a wedgie? All joking aside: really, what is the issue with having a character that has muscles on his muscles and uses a gun as big as he is?

Nothing really. I like the characters on the opposite extreme personally. I don't feel anything is inherently wrong with he slightly effeminate, softer male characters either. To each his own?

To each his own. It all comes down to personal preference, and softer characters can be good as well (Nathan Drake comes to mind), but ,as I stated, I'll stick with Marcus Phoenix as my character =)

They should make a game where there are 2 main characters, one is a Raiden esqe pretty boy and the other is a Marcus Phenix esqe macho man. They can be partners in something.......mercenaries maybe? I'll start on the design documents.

 

[Woodsey]

Manly men do what is necessary and right, macho men just want to prove their 'roids haven't made their penis minuscule.

Warrior Within was the best PoP and still is.

But I get your point

Yes you're right, The Sands of Time was the best PoP and -

WHAT?!

 

[Zhukov]

Huh. All this coming from a guy who likes Kratos.

...

Okay okay, smartarse comments aside, I agree with his general point.

 

[Yer man o'er yonder]

Anyway, nice to hear FSG:TG is progressing. Piloting a faulty ship and making it part of the gameplay sounds like a good way to introduce a sense of urgency. Only, the freezing thing isn't believable without some further elaboration - space isn't really cold (despite what The Phantom Menace tells you). If the ship had a faulty cooling system, with the coolant unable to stop circulating, you would have to run the engine to avoid it being frozen. But, if it's actually more intuitive for the average player to have space be an Antarctica-like environment where ships get hypothermia, it's a valid choice.

On the contrary, space is quite cold. Otherwise comets would't form being big balls of ice and such.
Anyway it is nice to hear about FSG:TG again.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Once again, all I can say is that I agree with you. Honestly, man, could you say something I possibly don't agree with just so I can have the pleasure of arguing? No respect for a man's desires.

On the other hand, Space Game sounds fun. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

[Riobux]

The only thing that I could slightly wonder at was The Two Thrones character being considered better than the Warrior Within character. I don't know really. While I could understand that the Warrior Within Prince Of Perisa was a bit of a whiny brat at times, I think overall he was a better character than The Two Throne's character.

However, I will admit that I actually liked Prince Of Persia: The Warrior Within the most out of the series and I found Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones a horrible game that flopped at every area. This probably includes the character designs but considering that the few good parts of The Two Thrones was unmemorable, I couldn't really tell you. The only Prince Of Persia game I found worse than that was the X-Box 360 Prince Of Persia game. Which is like saying razor wire is worse to chew on than barbed wire. True, razor wire is worse, but they're both still awful and not something to take delight in.

 

[Yureina]

Great article. The sad thing is that the whole "manly vs macho" business is not confined to games either. The "macho" men of the real world might not be spending their time running around wielding swords, but that attitude of "everyone different from this is a pussy/gay/woman/etc" is something that is unfortunately all-too common amongst people that I have met. Those people, like their gaming equivalents, are always uninteresting and obnoxious to deal with, especially for someone like me who has a strong dislike for "set standards" and those who live by them.

OMG!!! I finally understand it, and it all goes back to my original point!!! The Macho-Man main characters remind people of the "Macho-Man" Real people they know...and hate. So, due to transitive properties, they hate these traits in the main characters!!!! Thanks Yureina, this is a major psychological breakthrough ;-)

Your welcome.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Space Game actually sounds REALLY good

The idea behind it is fantastic

 

[Jared]

Glad to see space game is still going forward

And, I like the anaylsis on the Manly VS Macho men.

Thats one reason why I liked Niko from GTAIV. He was a man, sure, not doing nice things, but, it wasnt without purpose at least

 

[RTR]

Interesting observation, Yahtzee.
I'm trying to apply this to other characters in video games and other media, but I keep concluding that they have elements from both the manly and macho sides. I guess it comes down to the things that REALLY define the character and the things that come to mind when you think of that character.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

They should make a game where there are 2 main characters, one is a Raiden esqe pretty boy and the other is a Marcus Phenix esqe macho man. They can be partners in something.......mercenaries maybe? I'll start on the design documents.

That description really reminds me of Berserk (anime/manga), with the two main characters being polar opposites to each other.
Guts being the big short-haired muscly guy, dressed in all black, swinging a gigantic sword and is generally very anti-social but a nice guy underneath it all(though he is completely psychotic at the start).
Griffith however is of a lighter build, long hair and dresses in white and is very socially skilled and seemingly a nice guy, but at heart a relentless Nietzschian Ubermensch, who would burn you to death if you only slightly hindered his ascencion to power.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

So in summation, it's basically the difference between Indiana Jones and the Village People.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Soooooo...would Kratos be a manly man or a macho man? Because he has characteristics of both. Sure he's a dick who does things out of his own sense of vengence on those who wrong him (macho man), but he can also please the ladies to no end (manly man, apparently).

I have to stop this now. My head is hurting.

Great read though.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Brilliantly written. I have to wonder under which category Yahtzee would file Master Chief.

I think the route of the problem is bad writing.
It doesn't mean we just get lackluster stories for the characters to exist in, we also get lackluster characters to inhabit the lackluster worlds.

That's 'root'. /grammarnazi

 

[Jaebird]

The nearest thing the macho man gets to physical intimacy is having communal showers with his equally oversized buddies in between armed conflicts. While no sexual horseplay will occur at the time, he will probably be thinking about it later when he jerks off. Really angrily.

And the Funny of the Day Award goes to...

I kinda agree and disagree about Niko from GTAIV. For the first half of the game, he is a likable guy, trying to get by in the crazy world of Liberty City. It was that quality that made me interested in the game to begin with. But towards the end, he becomes another schlock "dude with gun." And after he finally finds the guy he was looking for, I couldn't care less about it. By that time, all I wanted to do was spawn a helicopter, take him into the air as high as possible and drop him like a rock. Reload, rinse and repeat.

 

[SatansBestBuddy]

Okay, you've explained the differences, cool.

Now, where's the rest of the article?

You know, the bit with the point?